Club Gascon

Time Out says

5 out of 5 stars

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Users say
(9)

4 out of 5 stars

Time Out says

5 out of 5 stars

The presence of the three-strong Gascon group (as well as Comptoir Gascon, there’s wine bar Cellar Gascon) ensures that a small area of east-central London has a flavour of south-west France. This is the most expensive of the trio, a Michelin-starred sanctuary of haute cuisine. Heavy wooden screens shut out the world; inside is a serene and urbane room of greys and golds with marble panels.

Head chef Pascal Aussignac is from Toulouse, and the hallmarks of the area’s cuisine shine through in his food, although it’s given the fancifications this level of restaurant requires. A playful approach means many dishes come with descriptions in inverted commas or feature unusually prepared ingredients.

Flavour combinations are bold, which adds to the sense of occasion, and the technique is flawless; perhaps less so the tendency to unorthodox plating. However, everything else was note-perfect.

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Club Gascon says

Our refurbishment has entered its second stage and so we're offering a free glass of Champagne to all guests in September. Sante!

Absolutely beautiful from start to finish. I booked a table for 18:30 on a Wednesday so obviously we were the only ones there at that time. However it gradually built up and it was a lovely atmosphere. Very friendly and highly knowledgeable staff. Food was immaculate from the amuse-bouche, bread course and the main and dessert. They infuse weird combinations in the food but they all worked a treat. Will surely be back. Highly recommended.

Arrived unfashionably early on a Thursday and were the only customers in the place for quite some time. My friend has raved about the restaurant and it's her fave in London but sadly it left me a little hungry and a little disappointed. Quite a fancy place although thankfully not pretentious- the staff were pleasant and helpful. Menu did not delight me but food was of a consistently high standard. I'd recommend visiting on a Bookatable offer for the experience at a fraction of the regular price as if you have wine is can really blow the budget.

One of the best French restaurants in London, with some of the dishes here my favourite of any restaurant I've ever been to. It can be quiet early on in the evening but it fills up quickly. If you want French food done superbly, this is certainly worth a go.

Less that 24 hours before our reservation, Club Gascon calls London Foodie Mama: “We don’t have highchairs..we don’t cater for babies..we recently had to ask a family to leave because their baby was disturbing other diners”. Hmm, not the most welcoming start. Undeterred, LFM was determined to take baby (less than 1 years old) to this 1 Michelin starred snooty restaurant.

In hindsight, we probably would have enjoyed the meal better without the wriggly worm. Pretty stressful keeping bebe quiet amongst the room of men in city suits on expense accounts.

On to the food: Maybe because we chose the limited lunch set menu (they wouldn’t let half the table go a la carte..why??), but we were not blown away by the dishes. The combinations and ingredients were, let’s say ‘traditional’ and didn’t push the boundaries. Next time, we would like to try the tasting menu but will wait to be on expenses (oh dear LFM needs to find a job first).

To the restaurant’s credit, they treated us well and the complimentary champagne and sparkler for LFM’s guest’s birthday was delightful.

Stunning experience at Club Gascon, the a la carte looked fantastic but we opted for the ‘Marche’ menu – certainly more than your average tasting menu with a few nice surprises thrown in too, especially like the amuse bouche and pre desert with mint and wasabi.
Of all the dishes my favourites were the duck “Chocobar” and confit scallops – amazing flavours which I don’t think you’ll find in many other restaurants. The service was great and Sommelier explained matched wines really well to a nice like me!
Would definitely go back if in the area again.

Good:
Great tasting food.
Very polite, friendly staff.
Close to Barbican & Farringdon tubes so getting home shouldn't be a problem.
No rush on finishing meals / no table-turning.
Bad:
Clearly with the meals in this kind of restaurant you go for the experience rather than an aspiration of getting a full plate, but the portions were pretty meagre, even with that in mind.
Waiter forgot our drinks order.
Waiter forgot our bread.
Was looking forward to trying pheasant but there was no more of this, seemed strange for a high-level restaurant to not plan for a Friday night.
All in all... Nice restaurant if you can afford to order enough to not be starving when you leave.